Sunday, August 09, 2015

Mistral Warship Sale Sunk, France to Refund Russia

France
will fully refund Russia for the amount the country has already paid,
the French president's office said Wednesday in a statement, without
giving the figure.

The
delivery of a Mistral-class warship to Russia was suspended last year
over the Ukrainian crisis. A second French-built warship which was part
of the deal was due to be delivered to Russia later this year.

The 1.2 billion euros ($1.3 billion) deal was supposed to be the biggest arms sale ever by a NATO country to Russia.

The Mistral-class vessels can carry 700 troops, 16 helicopter gunships and up to 50 armored vehicles.